Is upgrading cruise air possible?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We have a cruise booked from Athens to Venice for next summer.  We booked with the "free air", which cost about $1500.  Since you can only deviate by a couple days, we would only use the first leg, but it still looks cheaper than what we could buy two one way flights to Athens.  My question is, would we be able to upgrade to premium economy because I don't want to fly that far in economy.  

[lepidoptera]

I have upgraded on AA and on icelandair when using the air promo. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

8 minutes ago, lepidoptera said:

I have upgraded on AA and on icelandair when using the air promo. 

 

Did you did it through NCL or AA?

[lepidoptera]

Just now, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Did you did it through NCL or AA?

Both times through the airline. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

3 minutes ago, lepidoptera said:

Both times through the airline. 

Did they charge a lot for the upgrade?

[JandC_Cruising]

If you use the Airfare promo through NCL, your ability to move/upgrade through the airline will depend upon that specific airline's policy, the ticket fare that NCL purchased for you, and your own personal status on that airline.

So, if they book an airline on which you possess some level of status (ie; United Premier) then typically that airline will allow you to move seats and even upgrade you (again depending upon status).

However, there are many airlines that NCL could book you on that will not allow any seat class changes.  

It really all depends.  It is one of the "risk" factors we all take when using the air promo...NCL is providing a great fare typically, but often it is because they buy the "basic economy" ticket that on many airlines do not even give you seat assignments until 24hrs before the flight.  (again, United Basic Economy, or any flight on Southwest which has no seat assignments at all - domestic of course).

 

 

 

[cwtravel]

32 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We have a cruise booked from Athens to Venice for next summer.  We booked with the "free air", which cost about $1500.  Since you can only deviate by a couple days, we would only use the first leg, but it still looks cheaper than what we could buy two one way flights to Athens.  My question is, would we be able to upgrade to premium economy because I don't want to fly that far in economy.  

No.

depending on the airline ( United and American) you can probably purchase the economy plus type seats (additional leg room).

 

If you want premium economy don’t do the BOGO promo. 

[9tee2Sea]

when I used the BOGO earlier this year, I went onto the airlines website and paid for upgraded seats ( exit row). Later on, I also got an email saying I could bid on upgrades ( Premium economy upto first class). Be aware of the baggage fees on the airlines that you are ticketed on.  On Agean Air, we did not realize you had to pay to put your carryon into the overhead bins.  We had to make sure it fit under the seat in front of us.  The airline staff was very strict about that.  Even if there was lots of space in the overheads, they would not allow us to put our backpacks up there.  

[ilovesalchows]

If you are purchasing your own ticket home, why wouldn't you just buy an open jaw (multi city) ticket on your own for the whole thing?  Probably cheaper than whatever you are trying to do here.  

 

In general, I wouldn't try to use the BOGO unless you are saving a LOT of cash or planning a straightforward itinerary.  It's not worth it to save a couple hundred dollars.  

[kdzavo]

If the airline allows upgrades, you can. We did the BOGO NCL flights about five years ago, and NCL put us on IcelandAir. At the time (not sure if they still have the same policy), you could put in a bid to upgrade to business class seats, minimum bid was $100/person. We submitted a minimum bid for our family of three for all four legs of the trip, figuring we would be outbid but maybe we would get lucky and get one. We ended up being upgraded on three out of four legs. It was great, but it did add $900 to our trip we had not planned on!

[RocketMan275]

Why book BOGO to save money by getting a basic economy ticket and then pay to upgrade class or pay baggage fees?  How are you saving money?

[lepidoptera]

8 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Did they charge a lot for the upgrade?

Can’t remember how much it was, but I thought it was reasonable. However, they also weren’t super long flights either. Only the Icelandair was international, and since it was Boston to Reykjavik it was only a few hours long. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We decided not to use NCL air. Don’t even think we’re going to keep the NCL cruise. 

[Toyland]

On my upcoming Alaska landtour/cruise I was able to upgrade to 1st class on Delta for 3 flights, very reasonable upcharge.  One flight was sold out of upgrades.